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Religious Tolerance: The Faith Factor

by Albert L. Winseman, D. Min.

Religion and Social Trends Editor

Last in a five-part series on Gallup's new Religious
Tolerance Index

Since the concept of religious tolerance deals with issues of
faith, perhaps the final and most important question is how the
strength and intensity of an individual's religious faith affects
his or her attitudes toward other religions. To answer that
question, we looked at three factors that appear to influence
Gallup's new measure of religious tolerance: membership in a faith
community, attendance at weekly religious services, and level of
engagement within a congregation.

Initial research for the Religious Tolerance Index* separated
Americans into three levels according to their responses to the
survey. Isolated people are less likely than those who are
tolerant and integrated to be members of any particular faith
group, but if they are members, they tend to believe that their
religion is right or true and all other religions are wrong or
false. Tolerant individuals have a "live-and-let-live"
attitude toward people of other faiths but are not particularly
likely to go out of their way to try to learn more about other
religious traditions. Integrated individuals tend to be
engaged in faith communities, and also actively seek to learn more
from others of different religious traditions.

Membership

It appears that belonging to a faith community may make a
difference in one's attitude toward other religions. While those
who are not members of faith communities are just as likely to be
tolerant of other faiths as those who are members (tolerance
levels for both groups are at 46%), members are more likely than
non-members to be integrated (40% vs. 30%) and also
less likely to be isolated (14% vs. 24%). These
differences suggest that most faith communities are doing a good
job in promoting respect for other faiths.

Attendance

Though membership in a faith community does seem to have a
relationship with respondents' attitudes toward other faiths, their
rate of attendance at religious services does not. There is
virtually no difference in levels of isolation, tolerance, or
integration between those who attend services regularly and those
who do not. It appears that the amount of time that people spend
attending religious services has little to do with their attitudes
toward other religions.

Engagement

Gallup's data indicate that congregational engagement may be a
critical factor in shaping people's attitudes toward other
religious faiths (see "New Congregational Engagement Figures
Released" in Related Items). Overwhelmingly, those who are engaged
in their congregations are the most integrated in their views
toward other faiths. Over half of those who are found to be engaged
in their congregations are in the integrated group with regard to
religious tolerance (52%) -- a rate almost twice as high as that
among those who are actively disengaged (27%) and nearly 1.5 times
as high as the percentage among those who are not engaged
(37%).

Bottom Line

One might be inclined to think that those who are deeply engaged
in their own faith communities -- and thus profoundly spiritually
committed within their traditions -- would be more likely than
others to disregard other faiths. In fact, just the opposite seems
to be true. Those who are most engaged in their congregations are
most open to learning from people of other faiths, are more likely
to respect those of other faiths, and are more likely to feel
respected by those of other faiths. The engaged are secure enough
in their own beliefs to open themselves up to other
perspectives.

Once again, engagement is the key: not only to growing healthy
congregations and developing spiritually committed individuals, but
also to creating positive attitudes toward the multitude of
religious expressions found in our country.

*Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,000 adult
members of a church, synagogue, or other religious faith community,
aged 18 and older, and 500 non-members, conducted in November and
December 2002. For results based on this sample, one can say with
95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is
±2.6%.

As Global Practice Leader for Faith Communities, Dr. Winseman leads Gallup's research and consulting services that assist faith communities in helping their members become more engaged. He is a co-author of the new book, Living Your Strengths, written to help members discover and use their talents and strengths in their congregations. Before joining The Gallup Organization, he was a pastor in the United Methodist Church for 15 years.

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